The Fall of the Night
by bathroomstahl
Summary: The Elements of Harmony didn't work on Nightmare Moon and now she rules Equestria as a tyrant. Now ponies must rise to stop the tyrant who now rules Equestria. Rebellions will come, but all except for one will fail. This is the story of that rebellion against the evil tyrant who now rules Equestria. Cover art by nikohl on DeviantART! Pre-read by Fire Gazer the Alchemist!
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue: The Beginning of the End**

Snow sat limply on the Castle of Canterlot. Winter had stayed late in Canterlot, even if the other cities were in the season of spring. Most ponies would be astounded that Princess Celestia had not brought spring yet, even if it should have come two days ago.

Little did the citizens of Canterlot know that Princess Celestia could not bring the next season. She had not been seen since the return of the tyrant who now ruled the land. The tyrant that had caused the land an eternal night, or, as most ponies would call her, Nightmare Moon: the princess who had betrayed Princess Celestia to cause an eternal night and was banished to the moon. After her one thousand years on the moon, she had returned.

Nightmare Moon sat upon a pure black throne. The throne, among many other things, was different than before. The room had been white with a little bit of gold, showing the ponies that the princess of the sun had stayed there. Now it was dark blue with white stars lining the ceiling and walls. A large moon hung overhead, radiating light in the throne room. Upon her throne, Nightmare Moon wore a smug smile on her muzzle.

One of her guards trotted into the room. The female guard wore something similar previous royal guards that occupied the castle. Now it was painted black instead of the golden color Celestia had her guards' armor. The guard's yellow coat contrasted with the armor's color, as did her mane.

"My lady," the guard began, "a few ponies would like to see you now. May I send them in?"

Nightmare Moon nodded, and the guard trotted out of the room and soon three earth ponies trotted into the room.

The lead pony had a pink coat with a yellow mane to compliment it. Her cutie mark was a single stalk of corn. She had bags under her eyes, but looked more confident than the two ponies that were with her.

The stallion to the mare's left had a grey coat with a white mane. He looked more angry than anything. His teeth were bared and he gave their new ruler a death stare. The final pony was a mare with a red coat and a yellow mane. She tried to hide behind the lead mare. This was one of the places she did not want to be, and if she were never come here again, she would be the happiest mare alive.

"My lady," the lead mare began as the three ponies bowed to Nightmare Moon. "We need to ask you if you can stop your eternal night."

Nightmare Moon glared at the three ponies and stomped her hoof on the throne. "You want me to stop my eternal night? After I have worked so hard to give it to you! After I spent one thousand years on the moon! You want me to stop all that I have worked for?"

"Well, it's not that we don't like it, but our family is starving. Our crops are dying due to the lack of sunlight and we don't get any bits if we don't sell our crop," the lead mare explained. "We need sunlight to survive. Please bring the day back! Please, Nightmare Moon!"

Nightmare Moon looked to one of the guards in the room. "Take them away," she ordered.

"Please, think of the lives you could save if you brought back the sunlight!" the mare pleaded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

Four guards approached the trio of farmers.

"No stop, please! We need money for our family," the lead mare said again.

The guards approached them slowly. They readied their horns and other weapons. "We're going to ask you to leave," one of the guards said.

The stallion charged at a guard. The guard fired a magical blast of energy at the charging stallion. It hit the stallion square in the face, knocking him back to his companions.

The shy mare galloped over to the stallion's side. "Are you okay?"

"It's just a small bruise." The stallion tried to stand up, but fell back to the ground in pain.

"We promised our family that we wouldn't go back until we got the sun back!" the lead mare yelled to Nightmare Moon.

"If that's the case, then don't go home. Guards, take them to the dungeon. Oh, and do be a little rough with them."

A unicorn guard pulled out a sword from the side of his armor. "As you command, my lady." The guard chuckled to himself a bit.

The guards charged at the trio of farmers. The guard with the sword slashed at, and hit the stallion. The stallion fell to the ground in pain and tried to grasp at his cut neck with his hooves.

"Maize!" the shy mare shouted out. She looked at his body. "Maize! Please wake up! Please!" The stallion, Maize, does not respond. Tears roll down the mare's cheeks.

"Do you want us to make this bloodier than what it is?" a guard asked.

The lead mare growled at her assailants. The guards charged again.

"Enough!" Nightmare Moon shouted. "I will not have more bloodshed in my throne room! Just take them to the dungeons!"

"But, my lady, they are resisting and-"

"No, I said _enough_! Now take them to the dungeons!"

"Y-yes, my lady." A guard took a hold of Maize in his magical grip and began to take it somewhere else. Two more guards went up to the mares and hit them in the muzzle with the blunt part of their weapons, causing to get knocked unconscious. They, too, were taken away, but not to the same place Maize was taken to.

A pony trotted into the room. Nightmare Moon looked over to him. This one she knew quite well. This pony's forest green coat and wings matched his light brown armor. His teal mane peeked out under his helmet. And his bright green eyes contrasted the rest of him. His cutie was a golden bit with two blue wings coming out of it. The stallion that entered looked confident; he had an air to him that made him seem like he could do anything.

"Hello, my lady." The pegasus bowed to Nightmare Moon. "How have you been today?"

"Oh, it's just the usual, Wing Beat. A few ponies today came in and demanded me to give them the day back. And I ordered them to the dungeons." Nightmare Moon laughed, as did the green pegasus, Wing Beat.

"What foals, thinking that you would give them something that you despise," Wing Beat said between laughs.

"Indeed. Almost like when the 'Elements of Harmony' tried to stop me. They thought they could, but when the 'elements' hit me, they did nothing to me." Nightmare Moon.

"You still shouldn't laugh as you are, my lady." Wing Beat looked up at his ruler with a worried glance.

"Surely you don't think that I can be defeated by some mortals," Nightmare Moon scoffed.

"No, I don't, my lady. But not all of us are immortal like you are, and I'm sure that there will be rebellions. There's no doubt about that. Some ponies, like the ones in here earlier, will not want you as a ruler, and do not respect the night like we do."

"Well, Wing Beat, I want you to deal with any rebellions that come to pass."

"I will, my lady," Wing Beat, told her. "Any and all rebellions will be crushed by my hooves."

"Good, I wish to see all rebellions crushed by your hoof." Nightmare Moon told her subject.

Wing Beat had predicted the near future. Rebellions were sure to happen, but one would rise above the others and defeat the tyrant that now rules Equestria. This was the beginning of the end.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1: Ponyville**

A stallion in a worn, brown cloak trotted over a small knoll. He studied the area surrounding the hill, and in the distance, he could see the lights of a small town or city.

_I wonder what town that is. Maybe I can get some food and sleep in an actual bed there_. Night pulled back the hood of his cloak. His pale blue horn shining in the moonlight. He proceeded to trot toward the town; in a hurry to get something in his empty stomach.

The distance between the knoll and the village was short, as was the trot. He trotted into the village. Despite it being dark out, ponies were still out and about, unlike how Canterlot had been. Canterlot barely had anypony trotting the streets, no matter what time of night it was.

Unlike Canterlot, this place seemed unaffected by the new ruler of Equestria. Almost. There still were a few ponies that stayed indoors and when they did go out, they'd try to stay in the light whenever possible. While most here, traveled through the night without fear.

The village reminded Night of back when he was happy. He may not have been the richest of foals on the streets of Canterlot, but he and his best friend had great times. Granted, they had to steal from other ponies just to stay alive, but it was one of the happiest times of his life.

Night wandered through the small village. His stomach growled. Night entered the middle of the town. Wooden stalls littered the area. One stall that stood out to him was a stall selling the biggest and juiciest looking apples he had ever seen. He walked up to the apple stall and looked at the earth pony mare behind it.

He could barely make out her orange coat and blonde mane in the darkness, only a nearby torch lit the area.

"How can Ah help ya?" she asked in an accent.

"I'd like to have an apple please," he meekly said. He hoofed over several bits and she gave him two apples. "I only asked for one."

"Ah gave ya two since you're new here an' all." She smiled.

"How'd you know that?" Night knit his eyebrows and slightly tilted his head.

"First off, Ah've never see ya here before a few minutes ago an' secondly, you have one of them Canterlotian accents. Oh an' the name's Applejack." Applejack offered a hoofshake.

"Oh, thanks. My name's Night." He accepted the hoofshake.

"It's no problem. Just think it as a small 'Welcome' gift. Since you're new here an' all I'm wonderin' if ya have a place to stay. 'Cause if ya don', there's a nice inn up thata way." Applejack pointed a hoof to her left toward a few buildings.

Night nodded a 'thanks' and continued toward the buildings Applejack pointed out earlier. He soon reached an inn, which went by the name of _Celestia's Sun_.

He entered through the doorway and inside stood a pink mare at the main desk.

"How may I help you?" the mare asked.

"May I have a room?"

"Sure thing."

Night hoofed over the cost of his room to her and she gave him the key to his room.

"It's down that hallway‒" she pointed a hoof to her right, "‒and is the sixth room on the left."

Night made his way down the hallway until he reached his room. He flopped down onto his bed and sighed. _What am I gonna do?_

/\\

Nightmare Moon stared down the pony that stood before her. "Star," she addressed. "Ponyville has been resisting the presence of my new rule. According to the ponies I have stationed there, they have been disobeying the rules I have set for them to follow and have been showing me a great lake of respect. I need you and a small group of your guard to travel there and show them who is really in charge."

Star grinned. "Of course, my mistress, but what would you like me to do to the ones who resist?"

"You may take care of them however you see fit; just don't kill too many. I do need subjects to rule over, otherwise, my rise would have been for absolute nothing."

"Yes, my mistress. I shall gather together some of my soldiers and we'll make our way to Ponyville." Star exited Nightmare Moon's throne room and took off his midnight blue helmet and ruffled his light blue hoof through his bright yellow mane.

"This assignment sounds fun. Much better than staying here in Canterlot, these nobles don't do _anything_ of interest." He sighed. "But Ponyville on the other hoof, it sounds like it'll be interesting there."

Star trotted through the Castle of Canterlot toward the new home of his friends. He reached a set of doors that were incrusted with gold. He knocked on the door.

A dark blue unicorn with a purple mane answered the door. "What do you want, Star?" she asked calmly.

"Midnight, we have a job to do."

She looked at him, her calm face never changing. "Where at this time? Is it the castle again?"

"Nope. We're going to Ponyville." Star chuckled. "You ready to have some fun?"

/\\

_Crash!_

"Huh?" Night shuffled around on his bed. "What was that?" he mumbled. Night sat up and looked toward the door. The door just stood there, unmoving. "Probably wasn't anything." He stretched out his back and shot his hooves in the air. "Might as well get up now though." He looked out the window. "Too bad it's only night now. It makes it extremely difficult to tell what time it is by just looking at the sun… er, moon."

Night stood up and proceeded to ruffle up his gray mane. He pushed down the clumps of his pale blue fur that had been sticking into the air.

He continued into the hallway and then to the lobby. The lobby looked much worse than it had looked the previous night. The door that led outside had been broken off its hinges and random bobbles from the front desk littered the area around it.

Night approached the scared-looking mare at the front desk. "W-what happened?"

The mare jumped backed at the sound of his voice. She glanced up with her hooves covering the majority of her eyes. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized it was the costumer from the night before and not one of the newer ponies in town.

"Thank Celestia," she mumbled. "Now, how may I help you?"

"What happened here? This place looks like a stampede of minotaurs came through here."

"Some of Nightmare Moon's guards are in town. They say that they're 'spreading the word of the Savior of Equestria'." She gulped. "They came in here and trashed the lobby up for no reason.

"Their leader looked to be the worst of them all. The way he grinned ‒" she shivered "‒ gave me chills."

"L-leader?" Night took a step back. "What did he look like?"

"His armor made him hard to see, but I was able to make out his blue coat and blonde mane."

Night tossed down the key of his room onto the mare's desk. "Thank you for letting me stay. I'm gonna have to go now." Night rushed out the door and into the dark street.

_Of all the ponies, why does he have to be here?_ Night galloped through the darkened streets of Ponyville. He reached the edge of town and stopped. _I was hoping that I would've been able to stay a bit longer, but now Nightmare Moon has ruined something else for me._

"Stop right there!" a deep voice behind him shouted.

Night whipped around. A unicorn holding a torch who was wearing midnight blue armor approached him.

"Commander Star has issued an order stating: 'Nopony is allowed to leave Ponyville until they learn proper respect for the new queen'. I'm going to have to make you turn around and travel your way back to Ponyville, unless you want to face the commander, that is."

Night glared at the guard.

"I said you have to turn back, citizen! Don't make this hard on yourself!"

Night pondered his decisions for a few seconds and made up his mind. He started ambling back towards Ponyville. He got rather close to the guard and his horn lit up in a blue glow. A dagger shot out from under his cloak and toward the guard.

The guard jumped back. Causing the dagger to miss its mark and bounce off his armor.

Night cursed to himself. His hoof shot up to the guards face and it hit him across the muzzle. His dagger proceeded to come back around to him.

"It's a fight you want, eh? Well I'll give you the fight of your life!" The guard's own horn lit up and he pulled out a sword. "A sword verses a dagger. I believe we can both see the obvious outcome here." The guard smirked.

Night's dagger rushed toward the guard's neck. The guard's sword swung up to block the attack. Night grunted and tried another attack with his dagger, this time going towards the base of the guard's horn.

The dagger hit its mark, but did not enter the horn. Instead it only cracked the base of the horn. The guard screamed in pain. Blood streamed down the guard's forehead and into his eyes, mouth and nostrils. The horn itself now had a large crack in it. Blood oozed from the fresh wound.

Wincing at the pain he was feeling, the guard stood back up. "I'm not dead yet," he seethed through his grinding teeth.

Night rushed at the guard and slashed his dagger at the guard's horn again. The guard ducked out of the way and fell to the ground. He proceeded to roll away from Night. The guard's horn flared up for a spell. Night rushed toward the guard, who now lay on the ground and had a glowing horn. He slashed his dagger at the guard's horn again.

Unlike his last attempt, this one hit. With one final blow, the horn was severed off its owner's head. An explosion that originated from the guard's head lit up the night's darkness.


End file.
